When it completely suspended the supply of exhaust gases to Port Arthur Steam Energy a year ago, Oxbow Calcining in part cited a letter from Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick threatening legal action against the plant if it didn't curb its sulfur dioxide emissions.

But Branick now says he wasn't given all the facts about the situation beforehand. Sometime after writing the letter, he said, it came to his attention that Oxbow had specifically declined to install sulfur dioxide control equipment years prior.

"If I had known that, I wouldn't have written the letter or I would have written it differently," he told The Enterprise.

At the same time, PASE questions whether the threat of legal action was orchestrated by Oxbow, which the company disputes.

A contract between PASE and Oxbow says Oxbow can suspend exhaust gas delivery to PASE only if doing so would break the law or bring legal action against Oxbow, although the specifics of that clause are among the issues the two companies are litigating.

Last May, just weeks before Oxbow told PASE it was suspending sending exhaust heat for good, Oxbow received the letter from Branick, the county's chief executive. In it, he warned that he may be required to "institute a suit for injunctive relief to preclude further (SO2 level) violations."

The letter was sent more than a year after Branick received information from regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that the county needed to rein in its sulfur dioxide emissions, correspondence Branick referenced in his letter to Oxbow.

Oxbow was the only company to receive a letter from the county judge. Arkema, Exxonmobil Oil, Motiva Enterprises and others in the county that were also notified about the updated sulfur dioxide standard by the TCEQ did not receive one.

Ray Deyoe, managing director of Integral Power, which manages PASE, said in an affidavit that Branick told him Guy Goodson, an Oxbow local attorney who is Branick's campaign treasurer, first suggested writing a letter to Oxbow.

However, Goodson, in his own affidavit, said he never suggested or requested Branick or Branick's assistant write a "letter to Oxbow regarding its SO2 exceedances."

Goodson did not reply to requests for comment from The Enterprise. Branick did not specify which person at Oxbow he talked to about the SO2 emissions.

Court documents show at least one other Oxbow attorney sent an email to Goodson asking if he'd had an opportunity to meet with the county attorney "on its interest and enforcement authority under" Texas law before Branick's letter was sent, according to email correspondence between the two included in the court record.

In late June, Oxbow sent a letter to PASE officials, using Branick's letter and its threat of enforcement action as reason for completely suspending providing waste heat to PASE.

Branick said when the situation was first brought to him, Oxbow explained the difference between operating out of the hot and cold stacks. As county judge, he said, it's his responsibility to do what he can to keep industrial plants in the county from breaking environmental standards.

In court testimony, Oxbow's lawyers called PASE's theory that Branick was asked to write the letter so Oxbow would seem to be facing legal action a "nonsensical conspiracy theory."

Oxbow spokesman Brad Goldstein wouldn't comment further on the issue, again pointing out that the company is operating in compliance with its air emissions permits and citing pending litigation and arbitration.

County Commissioner Michael Sinegal, whose district the plant is in, said he was surprised when he found out Branick wrote a letter to the company. Normally, he said, that would be run through the county's legal department and/or the other commissioners.

He said the county needs to hold Branick's "feet to the fire" in questioning why the letter was sent, why other commissioners weren't included and why no plans seem to have been made to gauge Oxbow's progress or when to file a lawsuit if that progress wasn't made.